The Fezziwig News by Stu Jenks

Step Zero by Stu Jenks is launched...

(Author Photo by Jeff Smith at www.jeffsmithusa.com

 

Step Zero, the novel, has been launched.

So where can you buy it?

For those of you with tablets and digital devices, you can buy Step Zero as an iBook from the Apple store, for your iPad and iPhone, or you can obtain it as an ebook for your Amazon Kindle device, via this link. (The Nook version is pending.) You can also purchase the soft-cover first editions at the Barnes and Noble online store and at the Fezziwig Press online store. And locally, you can obtain the soft-cover book at Tucson Touch Therapies at Pima and Alvernon and at Betty Blue's Junk Shop on South Plumer. Lastly, on, Saturday, November 10th, 2012, from Noon to 5 p.m., I'll be at my studio at 549 N. 7th Avenue, for an imformal book signing, in conjunction with the Tucson Open Studio Tour.

And as a special free treat to those who buy Step Zero, I'll send you a pdf of The Lost Images of Step Zero, a hundred plus images that didn't make the final edit, but are a nice adjunct to the Step Zero experience, whatever that means. Just send me a Facebook message or an email at stujenks@gmail.com and I'll send the PDF right to you.

So push those buttons and buy those books, boys and girls, for baby needs a new pair of shoes.

From The Lost Images Of Steps Zero PDF:

Top to bottom, "A Rose For Chessie, California", "Matt Antone's Ginger, Arizona", "The 41 Nights, Arizona", and "Michael and Chessie's Moon, California".

 

Cover design by Gail Cross of Desert Isle Designs. Cover photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

 

Step Zero, the softcover first edition, is here!!!

A very good day at Fezziwig Press. The softcover, first edition of Step Zero: A Sober Love Story In 2076 is now for sale, ahead of schedule.

The digital editions of Step Zero will hopefully be available on your iPad, Nook and Kindle and other digital platforms by November 1st. The files have been uploaded and we are just waiting to hear back when they will available for download. We'll let you know.

But you can buy Step Zero, the analog first edition book, right now. Just click on this link to Fezziwig Press's Step Zero webpage and follow the instructions to buy the book. Easy Peasy.

And if you live in Tucson area, you can buy the book at Tucson Tucson Therapies at Alvernon and Pima, starting Friday, October 26th, 2012, and you can purchase the novel, right now, at Betty Blue's Junk Shop at 262 S. Plumer. All books at Betty Blue's and T3 are signed and I'll be happy to sign and personalize any book purchased through The Fezziwig Press Store.

Again, the ebooks version will be up very soon. I love ebooks. I truly do. But there is nothing like holding a book book in your hands. And you can hold the first edition of Step Zero in your hands right now.

Love, light, and luck,

Stu

All 8 1/2" x 11" A/P archival pigment prints by Stu Jenks for $25, shipping, handling and taxes included...

Image: "Queen Esther Baptist Church, Lancaster, Virginia" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks (Just down River Road from Victoria's house. Love that luscious red carpet. And for you nocturnals out there, it was handheld. Rare for me.)

In this time of making photos on iPhones and Macbook Pros and only looking on screens, I forget I'm a old-school guy. I make a 8 1/2 x 11 work print on archival paper of EVERY image I make. EVERY one. It's the only way, for me, to accurately check for color shift, density, composition, etc. I really like my iPad screen but it's no way to make a good print.

And I have hundreds, if not thousands, of work prints artist proofs at my studio.

If you see an image of mine on The StuBlog or on my old website or on the Fezziwig Press Store or in any of my books, there's a beautiful small print in a box somewhere, perhaps with your name on it. And since I'm organized, I can find it.

Many of you can't afford my larger prints. I understand. I don't have an extra 50 or 100 lying around either. But I do have an extra $20 for stuff I really like.

So if you see an image of mine on any of my sites or in any of my books and you want it, it's yours for $25, shipping, handling and tax included. (I believe in paying taxes, sales and otherwise.)

Just email me at my facebook page or through the StuBlog or at stujenks@gmail.com, and tell me what print you would like or just pull the jpeg and send that to me.

I was just watching the Tarhells lose today in basketball, working on images at my computer when I thought, 'I bet people don't realize I have boxes of work prints here.'

You all do now.

Love and light,

Stu

p.s. Ignore the catagories belows. The computer went wacky. Another reason why I prefer a print in the hand as opposed to an image in The Cloud.

...The first draft of the novel is done!!!...

The first draft of the novel is done!!! It came in at 149,000 words, 552 pages in my document. Yeaaaa! I can't tell you how good it feels. The ending made me cry, as I hope it does you. (Last word in the novel, which won't change in revision: Sighs.) I want to jump right back to the beginning and start revisions, but Mary Ann suggests I take more than just a couple days off. OK. I'll take off three or four days. LOL. But then it's fixing this and revising that, then off to the editors. And I have ideas for the next novel in this series, too. I have some pretty great characters, I think, and I want to see what they will do next. But first things first. Get this novel to print.

One serious note: It took about a year to write this novel, but it almost didn't get done. With Mary and Pamela dying and all, I didn't work on it for about six weeks and it was so hard to get my momentum back. But I did. But it was difficult. If you are working on a novel or a large work, I recommend you plow through, even if the field is frozen. I've been told I'm very lucky to have gotten back on track.

Speaking of track, good luck to Danica Patrick tomorrow in the Daytona 500 and in the rest of Sprint Cup and Nationwide races this season. I might just have to go up to PHX next Saturday to watch her race.

By the way, did I mention I finished the freaking first draft of the novel?

Yeaaaaaaaaa!

"The Ferro Avenue Angel"

"The Ferro Avenue Angel, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 1997, 2012 Stu Jenks

"Jesus at El Tiradito"

"Jesus at El Tiradito, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

To all of those who died and who were injured a year ago today, you continue to remind in my thoughts and prayers.

Now available, on the Apple IPad: The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) and Bozo In Love

Been a long time coming for The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010).

Three editors, two proofreaders, two designers, four printers, and hours, days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes, (I know I'm overstating), of writing, traveling, shooting, editing, remembering, hiking, and more writing, shooting, and editing, but I'm not complaining. No, no, no.

And apologies for not having the dough right now, to print The Transpersonal Papers as a coffee-table book as I had originally planned. ($10,000, it would have cost. Maybe someday.) But you now can buy it, for $14.95, as an Ebook on the Apple IPad, and I expect it to be available within a couple days on the Nook and the Kindle as well.

I just looked at it on my new IPad. The photos, text and design look grand.

And as an extra surprise, Bozo In Love is now up on IBooks too, ($9.95), as well as the rest of my catalog: Flame Spirals, Hoop Dancing, and Dementia Blues, on IBooks, Nook and Kindle.

Just in time for Christmas.

And don't worry. All but The Transpersonal Papers can still be bought as a book book through Fezziwig Press. I have plenty. Just go to www.fezziwigpressonline.com, for the hardbounds and paperbacks, but go to ITunes, today, (and Kindle and Nook, soon) for the ebooks.

Heavy sigh from my third story apartment balcony. I look out onto the Tucson city lights in the valley below. Cold, dry air embraces me. I inhale deeply. Exhale.

A very good night in the desert.

Think I'll make a cup of coffee with egg nog and play some Angry Birds on my new IPad.

Time to celebrate.

 

"Juniper Bozo Angel"

"Juniper Bozo Angel, Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

A new Bozo image, taken this afternoon in a light drizzle, near a high road below Mt. Wrightson. And not to brag but mostly to clarify, this is not an image made from sandwiched negatives. Everything you see is on one digital neg. I just made the blacks blacker and the reds redder.

A Bozo Angel for my deceased family, Stuart, Mary and Pamela. Thanks for walking beside me in the rain today.

And Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

Mary Elton Saum Jenks: October 31st, 1926 - July 7th, 2011

Images: "Rincon Ocotillos: For Mary Jenks" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks & "Mary On The Fourth Of July" (c) 2010 Stu Jenks

Mary Elton Saum Jenks
October 31st, 1926 - July 7th, 2011

    Mary Elton Saum Jenks died July 7th, 2011 at Crossroads Adult Care Center in Tucson, Arizona of complications from dementia. She was 84 years old. Mary was born in Alexandria, Virginia into a family of landed gentry. She attended Duke University in North Carolina, graduated from Duke pre-med, and married Stuart Carlyle Jenks Sr. soon after. They were married 52 years until his death in 2001. Mary was very active in The Episcopal Church, from being choir director at St. Mary’s Whitechapel in Lively, Virginia, to being a member of The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Virginia. She is survived by her son, Stuart C. Jenks Jr. of Tucson, Arizona, her brother, Courtney Saum of Silver City, New Mexico and a few nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sisters Virginia and Nan, her husband Stuart and her daughter Pamela. Memorial services for Mary will be held at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 East Adams Street, Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday, July 30th at 2 p.m.. Another funeral for Mary and the burials of both Pamela and Mary Jenks will be at St. Mary's Whitechapel Episcopal Church, 5940 White Chapel Road, Lancaster, Virginia on September 17th, 2011 at 2 p.m.
    In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Casa de la Luz Foundation, 400 West Magee Road, Tucson, Arizona 85704  

 

"Red"

"Red: Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

I've walked the Golden Gate twice now. Yes, the view of The City stuns, and the wind stings my face in a very nice way, but what's hit me each time, like a phantom hopelessness, is the thought of all the people who have jumped from this bridge to their deaths. It would be so easy, so romantic, so final, eh?

I'm not suicidial now but I was a gazillion years ago. I know the wish to end the pain that you think will never end. But now, as a reasonably hopeful guy, I'm saddened by the days and nights not lived by those who jumped, when perhaps after some time or some therapy or something, their depression lifts, true love arrives and they enjoy the mysteries of life again. But no. They are dead.

As Levi Neill once said: "There is no detox from Death."

Coit Tower stands majestic over there. Bicyclists speed by. And I look at the red cables, imagining those who have grabbed them, hoisted themselves up on the rail, balanced themselves briefly, and then plunged into the Bay below.

Chilling. Not in a nice way, but in a real way.

 

 

Music: "Crazy" sung by Shawn Colvin 

Download 01 Crazy

(P.S.: I'll be putting some music on the StuBlog by other artists and my myself, from time to time. Do them a favor. Don't steal the tune. Buy it, like I did, on ITunes or elsewhere.

My ITunes and BMI checks are partly how I support myself. So be a pal. Don't steal the music. Buy it if you like it, and help Shawn feed her kids and me, feed my Pathfinder.)